Delhi Resident Doctors On Strike, 800 Surgeries Postponed

In a dramatic move in the National Capital, over 20,000 resident doctors went on mass casual leave in solidarity with their Maharashtra counterparts. This unprecedented move led to postponement of over 800 surgeries across Delhi government and civic body-run hospitals.

This move has also left the thousands of patients in the lurch with OPD functions hit.

This move is in solidarity with a similar move by the Maharashtra Resident Doctors over rising cases of assault on doctors by patients’ kin.

Several government hospitals had to shut the OPD registration counters due to unavailability of the doctors.

Hospital staffs reported that patients had no idea about this strike and had to keep standing in the que to wait for next instructions.

There are 38 hospitals under the Delhi government. Resident doctors in hospitals under the central government, except the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, were also part of the protest.

Delhi government hospitals every day witness nearly 1,600 pre-scheduled surgeries and over 200 emergency ones.

Nirupam Ghosh, associated with the administration wing of Dadadev Mother and Child hospital claimed that “Nearly 60 per cent of patients at Dadadev Mother and Child hospital could not get doctors consultation or treatment due to the protest. However, the emergency cases were somehow treated as resident doctors having duty in emergency department were not part of the protest”.